• Policy not yet official, says Onanuga
• Arewa group canvasses ‘safe enclaves’ for cattle rearing 

The Federal Government has approved a 150-day duty-free window to allow the importation of maize, husked brown rice, and wheat as part of measures to combat food inflation in the country.
 
This was as Arewa Economic Forum (AEF) called for establishment of ‘safe enclaves’ for cattle rearing in the Northern part of the country to address the menace of insecurity bedeviling the region. Nigeria is battling severe food inflation, which is almost at 50 per cent, with prices of staple foods such as rice, wheat, maize, beans and others rising by as much as 200 per cent in the last one year.
  
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, disclosed the approval, yesterday, as part of the implementation of the Presidential Accelerated and Stabilisation Advancement Plan (ASAP) report.
 
With this initiative, food security is expected to improve in the next 180 days through the granting of the waiver for the above-named food items.
 
The Federal Government will also import 250,000 metric tonnes of wheat and maize to fill the depleted strategic grain reserve.  The report added that the Federal Government would engage stakeholders to get a Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP) for commodities, ramp up production among smallholder farmers in this year’s farming season and promote the production of fortified food commodities among other steps.
 
It stated, “The Economic Management Team (EMT) has been meeting day and night working out the best modalities to achieve the best results for Nigerians. To ameliorate food inflation in the country caused by affordability and exacerbated by availability, the government has taken a raft of measures to be implemented over the next 180 days, including a 150-day duty free import window for food commodities; suspension of duties, tariffs and taxes for the importation of certain food commodities (maize, husked brown rice, wheat and cowpeas) through land and sea border; and imported food commodities will be subjected to a Recommended Retail Price (RRP).”
   
Kyari also noted that the ministry, in the next two weeks, would collaborate with Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit and EMT to finalise the implementation framework for the policy initiatives.
 
The approval to grant food imports contrasts with the presidency’s earlier position on food import, where it stated that Nigeria should grow what it eats, as it has the potential to feed itself and export.

CHAIRMAN of AEF, Shehu Dandakata, while addressing newsmen, yesterday, in Abuja, said the prevailing security challenges started with cattle rustling for more than15 years before snowballing into banditry.
 
He said banditry had not only affected cattle-rearing negatively but also affected agricultural production in general, adding that crop farming and animal rearing had been devastated. 
 
“So, our appeal is to the Federal Government and all well-meaning Nigerians to put all hands on deck to check this issue of insecurity, if we must overcome food scarcity. 
 
“Just yesterday, the association of rice farmers said Nigeria could only produce 57 per cent of what it requires of rice, if all land is being put under cultivation. So you can see the kind of danger Nigeria is in. Any country that does not have food security is in the risk of breakup,” he warned.  On its part, the forum is providing other solutions, though not complete but can make things work. 
 
“For example, we are proposing what we call safe enclaves for cattle rearing. The first victims of banditry are the Fulani because this banditry started from cattle rustling, up till today,” he said.
 
According to Dandakata, such safe enclaves will help the Fulani herders to congregate in one place in gazetted grazing reserves where government could give them all the necessary support.
 

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